Tag Archives: Ariana Osborne

The Little Little Key

Ariana Osborne, who’s name you may recognize from Cartes Infernales and The Daemon Tarot, has a new Patreon campaign to create The Little Little Key which you may want to help support, “because every little magician needs to start somewhere!”

Ariana Osborne The Little Little Key Patreon campaign

“Well, there are 72 spirits in the Ars Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon, and I covered a fair few of them in the Cartes project — but not all of them. And that’s all well and good for President Malphas, but what about poor Prince Sitri? I do so hate leaving anyone out. It’s just not fair. So, fine: I suppose I’ve got a direction for my next project.

But do we reeeaaaalllly need yet another interpretation of an interpretation of a translation that eventually roots back to Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum? I mean, these are some old, dusty, seriously user-unfriendly texts that have been well-explored by lots of experts.

But, there you go: Experts. As far as I know, no one’s ever made a simple introduction to the Goetic spirits.

I mean really simple.

I mean ‘My First Goetia’ simple.

Yes. I’m making The Little Little Key, because every little magician needs to start somewhere.”

The Daemon Tarot

The Daemon Tarot: The Forbidden Wisdom of the Infernal Dictionary is a book and deck of cards by Ariana Osborne, due from Sterling Ethos on November 5, 2013, and has arrived at the Reading Room courtesy of the publisher.

Ariana Osborne The Daemon Tarot from Sterling Ethos

First things first: this is not actually a tarot deck. There are no suits, no major/minor arcana, and the deck has 69 cards. However, personally, I think that’s a good thing. Instead of being yet another novelty themed tarot deck which merely swaps out images from any other, this is something actually new and different.

Ariana Osborne is a print designer, from Portland, OR, who has taken inspiration from Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy’s 1818 Le Dictionnaire Infernal and the commissioned engravings by Luis Breton of these many entities for a later edition, and used those to create a cartomancy deck useful for creative divination, study and more. In fact, I’d previously mentioned her “Cartes Infernales” crowdfunding effort for this, and so it is actually quite wonderful to see this become a major release.

Ariana Osborne The Daemon Tarot book and cards from Sterling Ethos
Inside the box: book and card deck

Each card has a name, image and brief description of one entity; and the companion book is primarily comprised of a reference for each card with additional information, including an annotation about the entity, an inspiration as relevant connection to the modern world, and a divination with suggested meaning for those using the cards for cartomancy.

There’s a tiny bit of dancing apologetics in the preface, which, you know, is fine if it soothes the squares and avoids being burnt alive or worse when the narrow-minded mob becomes nasty during Consumermas, but even with that this is a nice, cleanly designed reference and divinatory set of uncommonly complex entities which could be of interest to you.

Ariana Osborne The Daemon Tarot Abigor Abraxas Adramelech Orobas Paimon Stolas
A few familiar fiends: Abigor, Abraxas, Adramelech, Orobas, Paimon, and Stolas

“What does the Daemon Tarot hold in store for you? Summon the power of infernal beings to guide you on your path …

For the 1893 sixth edition of his Dictionnaire Infernal (‘Infernal Dictionary’), a volume filled with entries about magic and the occult, demonologist Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy commissioned over five hundred unique engravings—including 69 signed illustrations by Luis Breton, mostly compelling portraits of named daemons. Now author Ariana Osborne has created a matched set of 69 cards out of Breton’s works and written a companion book of illustrated entries for each. These entries detail each daemon’s attributes compiled not only from the Dictionnaire, but from a variety of other sources; Osborne’s own interpretations and insights into the subject of each card; and focused meanings to use in a traditional one-card draw or a six-card spread—’the next best thing to dragging a daemon into your living room to answer all your questions.'” — box copy

 

The Hermetic Library Reading Room is an imaginary and speculative future reification of the library in the physical world, a place to experience a cabinet of curiosities offering a confabulation of curation, context and community that engages, archives and encourages a living Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to contribute to the Hermetic Library Reading Room, consider supporting the library or contact the librarian.

You may be interested in Cartes Infernales graphic design project by Ariana Osborne

You may be interested in Cartes Infernales, a graphic design project by Ariana Osborne. It’s already fully funded with a month left to go, but that just means you know it’ll happen, right?

“Right to the point: I want to design and print a deck of 69 large (3.5″x5.75”), full-color cards, each featuring an illustration from the Dictionnaire Infernal. I’d also like to create a supplementary PDF for the deck, with all 69 card images and extended information about each. If you’re already familiar with the images I’m talking about, you can scroll down to the “accountability” section to see what this project would entail.”

“It’s my hope that people will want this deck and PDF for all sorts of reasons. I mean, sure, there’s the beautiful art — but I’m aiming to create something that’s useful for more than just looking at, too. I’m building a resource of art and information, for people that want inspiration for creating, or divination, or planning a gaming campaign. They might even be useful flash cards for Demonology 101. The beauty of it is that I get to restore something old, create something new, and then hear about all the wonderful things you can think of to do with it once it’s released into the world.”